Monday, January 14, 2008
The Chronicle coverage continues
The Chronicle will continue to cover the 2008 campaign at its Election 2008 blog here. Please follow the link to find new and breaking coverage from The Chronicle as the election season develops.
Friday, January 11, 2008
The fallout: 'Change,' but of a different kind
Three days after the primary, the dust is still settling on the implications of the election. The polls and the pundits were dead wrong when predicting the results. The press, the pundits and even the candidates are all reeling from the votes of a record number of New Hampshirites.
Sen. Hillary Clinton was dead in the water in the final days before the primary, according to poll data, and the predictions of talking-heads on the 24-hour news networks, most flagrantly Chris Matthews of MSNBC. Some in the journalism community argue that an anti-Matthews vote turned the election in Clinton's favor, a position also seemingly taking hold at center-left political blog Talkingpointsmemo.com.
Some outlets are taking responsibility on behalf of the industry for their mistakes in coverage. The co-founders of Politico.com, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, ran an extensive mea culpa, in which they proclaim:
New Hampshire sealed it. The winner was Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the loser — not just of Tuesday's
primary but of the 2008 campaign cycle so far — was us.
"Us" is the community of reporters, pundits and prognosticators who so confidently — and so rashly — stake our reputations on the illusion that we understand politics and have special insight that allows us to predict the behavior of voters.
They say their publication Politico is not immune to this criticism, and in fact indulged in its trapdoors as well.
But the primary results have completely reshaped the race. No longer is Sen. Barack Obama the heir apparent for the Democratic party; he will have to earn it against a formidable foe in Clinton, and a pesky Sen. John Edwards, who placed second in Iowa and third in New Hampshire.
Clinton's victory is also attributed to a change in her campaign approach: a return to listening. She took hours of questions from voters, eventually resulting in her "Hillary moment," the so-called tearing-up scandal. Obama did not take questions from voters, instead relying on the inspiration of his message to rally supporters. And it likely hurt him.
The results from the Republican primary show a gigantic mess on that side of the ticket. Sen. McCain's victory shook up the Republican race for the nomination, again.
There are now five candidates that all have a chance at holding the mantle of frontrunner for the Republican nod: McCain, Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.), Mayor Rudy Giuliani (N.Y.) and Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.).
No better example of this would be Thursday night's FOX News Republican debate in Charleston, S.C., when Thompson said “This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future" in an attack on what he called Huckabee's "liberal" stances on foreign policy.
Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, explains how his father built the Republican coalition that is now "in shambles" since its creation during the late 1970s in an article on HumanEvents.com, a conservative magazine.
New Hampshire refused to rubber-stamp the results of the Iowa caucuses from five days before, and as a result, have molded the race for president in 2008 in its image.
The next battles occur in Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida, before the Super-Duper Tuesday on Feb. 5, where 23 states will select the nominee for President.
The Chronicle had a front-row seat for what is so far the pivotal battleground for the 2008 campaign. And it will again on Oct. 15, when the University hosts the final Presidential debate.
Sen. Hillary Clinton was dead in the water in the final days before the primary, according to poll data, and the predictions of talking-heads on the 24-hour news networks, most flagrantly Chris Matthews of MSNBC. Some in the journalism community argue that an anti-Matthews vote turned the election in Clinton's favor, a position also seemingly taking hold at center-left political blog Talkingpointsmemo.com.
Some outlets are taking responsibility on behalf of the industry for their mistakes in coverage. The co-founders of Politico.com, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, ran an extensive mea culpa, in which they proclaim:
New Hampshire sealed it. The winner was Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the loser — not just of Tuesday's
primary but of the 2008 campaign cycle so far — was us.
"Us" is the community of reporters, pundits and prognosticators who so confidently — and so rashly — stake our reputations on the illusion that we understand politics and have special insight that allows us to predict the behavior of voters.
They say their publication Politico is not immune to this criticism, and in fact indulged in its trapdoors as well.
But the primary results have completely reshaped the race. No longer is Sen. Barack Obama the heir apparent for the Democratic party; he will have to earn it against a formidable foe in Clinton, and a pesky Sen. John Edwards, who placed second in Iowa and third in New Hampshire.
Clinton's victory is also attributed to a change in her campaign approach: a return to listening. She took hours of questions from voters, eventually resulting in her "Hillary moment," the so-called tearing-up scandal. Obama did not take questions from voters, instead relying on the inspiration of his message to rally supporters. And it likely hurt him.
The results from the Republican primary show a gigantic mess on that side of the ticket. Sen. McCain's victory shook up the Republican race for the nomination, again.
There are now five candidates that all have a chance at holding the mantle of frontrunner for the Republican nod: McCain, Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.), Mayor Rudy Giuliani (N.Y.) and Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.).
No better example of this would be Thursday night's FOX News Republican debate in Charleston, S.C., when Thompson said “This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future" in an attack on what he called Huckabee's "liberal" stances on foreign policy.
Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, explains how his father built the Republican coalition that is now "in shambles" since its creation during the late 1970s in an article on HumanEvents.com, a conservative magazine.
New Hampshire refused to rubber-stamp the results of the Iowa caucuses from five days before, and as a result, have molded the race for president in 2008 in its image.
The next battles occur in Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida, before the Super-Duper Tuesday on Feb. 5, where 23 states will select the nominee for President.
The Chronicle had a front-row seat for what is so far the pivotal battleground for the 2008 campaign. And it will again on Oct. 15, when the University hosts the final Presidential debate.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The morning after
A large Hillary Clinton sign is thrown in the trash on Elm Street in downtown Manchester, N.H.
(Samuel Rubenfeld/The Chronicle)
A garbageman disposes of the campaign signs left over from the primary that occurred the day before. (Samuel Rubenfeld/The Chronicle)
Hillary claims victory
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) claimed victory late Tuesday night in the New Hampshire primary.
She was notably alone on the stage tonight, in sharp contrast to her concession speech in Iowa, where she was surrounded by aides, including Madeline Albright and her husband, President Clinton.
"I come tonight with a very full heart," she said. "Tomorrow we're going to get up, roll up our sleeves and keep going."
The key line of the night: "I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice."
She was notably alone on the stage tonight, in sharp contrast to her concession speech in Iowa, where she was surrounded by aides, including Madeline Albright and her husband, President Clinton.
"I come tonight with a very full heart," she said. "Tomorrow we're going to get up, roll up our sleeves and keep going."
The key line of the night: "I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice."
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Obama concedes
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) conceded the New Hampshire primary to Sen. Hillary Clinton after election returns showed a consistent and insurmountable lead. But he was still upbeat about his prospects.
"I am still fired up and ready to go," Obama said. "There is something happening in America."
His words were drowned out by cheering from supporters: "We want change!"
Obama's speech pivoted around his victory in Iowa, and he said he intends to place power into the hands of the American people. "You can be the new majority that can lead this country out of a long political darkness," he said.
In the speech, Obama attacked Clinton for her comments about him pandering with "false hope."
"We have been told we can't do this by a chorus of cynics," he said. "We have been told to pause for a reality check. We have been warned against offering false hope. But in the history of America there has never been anything false about hope."
Founder of the University's campaign group Students for Obama was upbeat about the campaign as well. "'Yes we can' kind of sums up the theme of the campaign," he said. "If you look at the polls from a month ago, we never would have expected to come within three points of Clinton."
"I am still fired up and ready to go," Obama said. "There is something happening in America."
His words were drowned out by cheering from supporters: "We want change!"
Obama's speech pivoted around his victory in Iowa, and he said he intends to place power into the hands of the American people. "You can be the new majority that can lead this country out of a long political darkness," he said.
In the speech, Obama attacked Clinton for her comments about him pandering with "false hope."
"We have been told we can't do this by a chorus of cynics," he said. "We have been told to pause for a reality check. We have been warned against offering false hope. But in the history of America there has never been anything false about hope."
Founder of the University's campaign group Students for Obama was upbeat about the campaign as well. "'Yes we can' kind of sums up the theme of the campaign," he said. "If you look at the polls from a month ago, we never would have expected to come within three points of Clinton."
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